Killers
by k2monarch
Summary: AU. Naruto is not a shinobi. They are his prey and he the predator. He has sworn to bring peace to the elemental nations and the system of Hidden Villages stands in his way. He will tear it down brick by brick until the legacy of the sage of six paths is but a memory lost to the sands of time. NaruSaku but not a focus.
1. Chapter 1

Naruto was eight years old when they came for him and it was the happiest day of his life. The morning of that day had been deceptively normal. Naruto sat alone in his room at the orphanage. It was a small room, dusty, and unkempt. Once a week the caretakers would enter, strip down the bed, wipe everything down and then leave as soon as they arrived. He was never spoken to or even looked at. They would point at him, prodding and pushing to get him out of the way as they worked around him. At night the sheets of his bed would be placed on top of his mattress, folded and pressed. Naruto would then take the time to fit the sheets himself before laying down to rest.

This morning had been much the same. After the caretakers had come and gone one of the matrons gripped him by the arm and dragged him down the hall. As Naruto dragged his feet he averted his eyes. Coming the other way were the other children. Naruto was the idiot, the moron. They would tease and make faces at him the best they could without bringing down the wrath of the matrons. Noise was not tolerated this early in the morning.

Naruto was always taken outside as the other children bathed and ate their breakfasts. He would usually wile away the time on the swings as the matron supervising him watched from her seat by the door. An hour would pass and he would be taken back inside. They would seat him by the kitchen and whatever scraps were left from the morning would be put in a bowl and put in front of him. With a mechanical motion Naruto ate, the only sound being his spoon hitting and scraping the sides of his bowl. After exactly fifteen minutes the bowl was taken away, whether he was finished or not, and he would be dragged off to the bathroom. There he would be given exactly fifteen minutes again before they would barge in, dry him off, and take him back to his room where he stayed for the rest of the day.

Some days an elderly man would visit him, dressed in red and white robes and covered in the acrid smell of smoke. The man stood tall and straight despite his age and the matrons would be particularly polite, bowing and scraping the floor constantly. They would tell him to bow too as the Hokage was the leader of the village. On his visits the Hokage would ask him questions and Naruto would answer, yes or no. Do you need anything? Are you eating well? Are you making friends? Are you happy? Every question Naruto would answer yes or no, whether he meant it or not, but the last question would always give him pause. He would hesitate, less than a second, but the old man's eyes would tighten whenever he answered yes.

Today, however, the old man had not come and something else had changed. Naruto could hear a commotion outside his door. They were hushed whispers but he heard nonetheless. As he strained to follow the conversation the door suddenly opened causing him the jump. The matron who had come in eyed him suspiciously.

"Come." She said, her tone disbelieving "Somebody has asked for you."

This had never happened before. Naruto's heart started to race. He rubbed his sweaty palms on his shorts and licked his lips, suddenly aware of how dry his mouth was. With a nod he followed her out of his room and down the hall.

Waiting outside was a young man dressed plainly in undyed cotton. His hair was long, black, and tied up into a knot. His eyes were the same colour with a hint of brown showing around the edges. A strong jaw stood above his broad shoulders that hinted at a long life of physical labour. Naruto wilted under his gaze.

"Be polite!" The matron whispered into his ear. "This man has decided to take you. God forbid why, but he has. Be good or he will definitely bring you back."

The man approached and offered his hand to Naruto. He kept his hand there for several long seconds before breaking into a smile.

"You should shake it." He said. "It's called a hand shake."

Drying his palm on his shorts once again, Naruto then grasped the other man's hand. It dwarfed his in size. The man's huge fingers completely hid Naruto's from view. Naruto noted that the man's palm was rough and calloused, the skin cracked in some places and as tough as leather. At first Naruto thought the man was a farmer, or perhaps a labourer but neither of those smelled of steel, oil, and a musty scent he couldn't quite place.

"Good. My name is Samanosuke Nankobo. It's a pleasure to meet you Naruto." The man said

Naruto nodded, unsure of what to say. Samanosuke put his hand on Naruto's shoulder. His grip wasn't tight like the matrons. Neither did he pull at Naruto. It was a gentle push that radiated warmth.

"Let's go Naruto. Let's go home."

Home, a word Naruto never thought he would get the chance to use.

"Home." Naruto repeated as a smile flitted across his face. He had finally been adopted, something everyone had told him would never happen. It was the favourite thing for the other children to tease him about. They would jeer that he was too ugly and stupid to ever be taken. So caught up in his jubilation Naruto didn't stop to think why, then, had he been adopted?

* * *

Naruto and Samanosuke approached the gates of Konoha. Naruto had only seen them once or twice before. They were enormous, reaching almost twenty meters in height. Two or three horse drawn carts could comfortably fit through their opening. As Naruto stepped onto the brick boundary between Konoha proper and the outside world he couldn't help but feel he was stepping into the maw of some great beast. He turned his head to look back to the town he had spent his entire life. It looked dirty and cramped where before him was the entire world waiting to be seen.

The cold looks he received from the villagers near the gate sparked a new fear. He had always wondered why they had looked at him so, whispering under their breath about monsters and beasts. Often he would look at himself in the mirror and poke at his face, practice his smile and pull at his hair. He was now leaving this place and he feared how the people outside of Konoha would look at him. Perhaps he really was hideous, inhuman, and monstrous in appearance.

"Samanosuke-san." He said with a tremble in his voice. "Do I look normal?"

The older man gently returned his hand to Naruto's shoulder, his eyes softening.

"You look normal to me." He replied "In fact you look better than normal. You'll be a handsome devil just like me and all the ladies will chase you down the streets screaming Naruto-sama! Naruto-sama!"

Samanosuke raucous laughter brought a smile to Naruto's face and washed away his worries. He didn't really understand why ladies would chase a devil through the streets but Samanosuke seemed to think it was a good thing.

"Don't worry, I'll outrun them all!" Naruto said.

This just made Samanosuke laugh even harder.

"Oh and don't call me san. It makes me feel like a kidnapper… and old. Samanosuke is fine."

"Okay!" Naruto said "Osuke!"

Samanosuke chuckled at his new moniker but didn't say anything against it, instead he stepped past Naruto and cleared the gate. He turned back and gave Naruto a conspiratory smile

"Come on, let's ditch this dump." He said.

Naruto shouted "Yeah!" in response and skipped over the brick boundary.

After a long week of travel the pair arrived in a small town called Shiranuka close to the border between the Land of Fire and the Land of Tea. So far they had been travelling along the main roads with inns and travellers lodgings at regular interval. From this point on they would be going somewhere much more remote and thus needed to purchase some supplies before moving on.

Naruto had never been happier. Outside of Konoha, nobody looked at him with scorn except an old man that screamed about his yellow hair and something about damn rock munchers. This new found anonymity suited Naruto just fine. He went to a small store with a little pocket money Samanosuke had given him and bought some candy. They were little rock candies with a red swirl passing through the middle. He thought he had never tasted anything better. He had long stopped asking the other kids in Konoha to share as they would simply scoff and push him away. Neither had he been able to buy any for himself as on the rare occasions he was allowed outside the orphanage grounds no one had been willing to sell him any.

In good cheer and with a mouth full of sugar Naruto met up with Samanosuke at the edge of town. The older man was now carrying a large pack on his back.

"Hey Naruto, nice to see you made it. Can I have one?" He said, spotting the candy.

Naruto replied with a flash of his stained teeth "Sure Osuke."

Popping the small red candy in his mouth Samanosuke smiled and patted Naruto on the back.

"You're a man after my own heart Naruto. I love cherry flavour too. Anyway we have another three days or so to go before we get to your new home and the rest of the family."

Naruto was eager to get there but his smile suddenly faltered. The entire trip he had had a sneaking suspicion that this had all been some kind of trick. It seemed too good to be true. The words of the other children and the matrons themselves back in Konoha kept scratching at the back of his mind.

"Ummm…. Osuke." Naruto said "Why…..why did you pick me?"

Samanosuke shifted in place and raised his hand to cover his mouth as he coughed. He failed to make eye contact with Naruto when he spoke.

"It'll all be explained when we get home Naruto but I can say that I picked you because you're very special."

Naruto gave him a strange look, with doubt clear in his eyes. It wasn't a very satisfying answer but Samanosuke had earned the benefit of the doubt for the time being.

"Don't worry." Samanosuke continued. "It'll all make sense when we get there, I promise you, and I never break my promises."

Naruto nodded and started to walk along the road with Samanosuke. Every once in a while he would give a sidelong glance at the older man, noting the man's discomfort.

* * *

Sarutobi Hiruzen, third Hokage of Konohagakure, had been harrowed for the last month by an overwhelming wave of paperwork and administrative duties. Konoha had been experiencing an economic boom in the last few years and with that growth came people flocking to the village looking for a better life. The urban sprawl of Konoha had reached the boundaries of the city and further land had to be approved for development. Done and dealt with the office was the furthest from his mind as the Hokage made his way to the orphanage. It had been far too long since he had checked in on Naruto.

Thoughts of the boy brought a frown to his face. Naruto was the focal point of the conflict between his duty as Hokage and his duty as a friend and a mentor. Certain promises had been made under the duress of his personal honour, because of this every day his guilt continued to grow yet he was paralysed from correcting his failings by the obligations of his office.

Once he arrived at the orphanage he called for the head matron to show him to Naruto's room only to be told the boy had been adopted over a week ago. He couldn't help the surprise that came bubbling to the surface. Hiruzen was neither ignorant or naïve about village attitudes towards the young boy and that made Naruto's absence from the orphanage that much more unlikely. Clearly he was gone though.

"Who adopted him?" he asked

The matron asked him to step into her office before she started to rummage through the books on the shelf. Finding the log she was looking for she opened it up and drew her finger along the pages.

"Looks like it was a man named Mori Takebana, a carpenter living near the market district."

After obtaining the address of the man who had adopted Naruto Hiruzen made his leave from the orphanage and returned to his office. Settling into his seat he looked up at the portraits of the previous Hokage. His eyes lingered on the one of a yellow haired man. With a deep sigh he reached into one of the many drawers in his desk and pulled out a small pipe known as a kiseru and a leather pouch filled with tobacco. He had almost stopped indulging in this habit during his old age but he found himself enjoying a smoke more and more often over the last few years. The ritual of packing and tamping the pipe was almost as therapeutic as the smoke itself. After lighting it he took a deep draw before letting the smoke drift out of his mouth is a lazy coil.

"Dog, Cat, go to this address and report back on what you find."

A slight breeze floated through the room as his two ANBU guards left the office. Now alone, truly alone, Hiruzen's shoulders dropped as he cradled his forehead in one of his palms. He had a suspicion. No one should have known how significant Naruto was. A jinchuriki yes, that was not a well-kept secret on purpose, but if anyone had connected him to the fourth… Several watchers had been assigned on rotation to keep an eye on the boy but if they had been lax in their duties they would quickly be reminded why he was the god of shinobi.

Another breeze swept the room, distorting the coils of smoke that floated above Hiruzen's head. He quickly straightened up and laced his fingers together, resting his elbows on his desk.

"Cat, Dog, report."

The taller ANBU with silver hair started to speak. "Mori Takebana has been deceased for the last two years. A different family currently occupy that address. There is also no sign of the boy anywhere in the area."

A crack of splintering wood pierced the air as the Hokage bisected his desk with his fist. The ANBU flinched. They had never seen their leader driven to the point of destroying his office. After a moment to gather his breath and push down the hot flush of anger Hiruzen almost whispered.

"Find Naruto and take boar, starling and crane to Ibiki."

The two ANBU hesitated.

Hiruzen stood and snapped his pipe in half. He raised his voice.

"This is an order from your Hokage. You will not test my patience."

The two shinobi before him disappeared instantly, leaving only a breeze and a flutter of leaves that fell to the floor.

* * *

The trip had been uneventful and at its conclusion Naruto and Samanosuke had arrived at what could be best described as a small village. The duo had left the road two days back and trekked through the wilderness to reach their destination. The forest had given way to a steep slope that eventually became a cliff that rose up for several hundred meters into the sky. Roughly three dozen buildings were built into the cliff side, standing on shelves that had been cut out from the soil. They resembled giant misshapen steps that held rice and vegetable fields as well as the cluster of buildings. A low wall made of natural stones piled on another surrounded the area keeping rabbits and other pests out of the field.

"We're here." Samanosuke said gesturing to a large building in the centre of the village. "That's where you will be staying with me and a few others. There's not many of us but we look out for each other, after all we're all the same."

As they walked through the village towards Naruto's new home people came out of their abodes to greet the pair. They all bore friendly smiles but Naruto couldn't figure out what they all had in common. Men, women, young and old, dark skinned, light skinned, there seemed to be no obvious commonality between the wide varieties of people that made up the welcoming crowds. An older man dressed in a dark blue yukata broke through the throng of people. His hair was snow white and seemed to have migrated to be only on the back of his head. A long white beard adorned his worn face together with a large scar that was partially hidden under an eye patch.

"Samanosuke, you've returned and with him..."

Samanosuke gave a deep bow before replying

"Master, he is one of us. I had to bring him back. I had the perfect opportunity and he was lightly guarded."

The older man observed Naruto quietly; his eyes fixated on the young boys cheeks.

"You went to Konoha when I expressly forbid you from doing so."

"I'm sorry master," Samanosuke replied "but I did what I had to. Once I saw him I could not resist."

With a huff the older man spun on his heels and started to walk towards the house in the centre of the village.

"Very well. There will be consequences to your actions Samanosuke but for now bring the boy. There are things that he must be told."

Naruto was now completely confused but followed obediently. He had wanted answers and now it seemed he would get them. It seemed to be a much more serious affair than he had imagined.

The house turned out to be exceedingly Spartan. Every room was equipped with the bare minimum. All furniture was completely utilitarian in design, with no ornamentation or fancy designs. There was not a speck of dust to be found anywhere either as the sunlight bounced off gleaming hardwood floors before suffusing over the papered doors. The home was a monument to tradition. It was built like the clan compounds of the Hyuuga, completely made of timber with the iconic trapezoidal silhouette. Naruto's heavy steps across the raised floors created a beat that made him feel as if he was walking across the skin of an enormous taiko drum. This together with the ascetic nature of the building threw off an aura of martial prowess and pride. This was the home of a warrior.

The three reached a small tea room and took their seats. Naruto followed Samanosuke's example and sat on his knees in seiza. They waited as the old man retrieved a kiseru from the small desk in front of him. Once he had settled into his smoke the old man spoke.

"I am Takao Kubo, leader of this village. What is your name boy?"

Naruto tried to find moisture in his mouth before he spoke.

"My… my name is Uzumaki Naruto. I might be an orphan but I know I'm an Uzumaki because the Hokage told me!"

"A genuine Uzumaki? Well isn't this most unusual….almost ironic" Takao replied before falling into mumbling under his breath.

Naruto had no idea what to make of the leaders reaction to his name. Even though he was an orphan his surname was his, the old man who visited him at the orphanage had told him that, but he had no idea of the significance of that name in the wider world.

"I am going to tell you many things Naruto. Many of these things you will not understand as you are but you will, in time. Samanosuke brought you here because you are like all the others in this village. All living things have something called chakra Naruto. It's the energy that sustains life. Some called shinobi harness and grow this energy and use it to fight. Others merely rely on it to keep them alive. All of them have a series of pathways in their body through which this energy flows. We of this village break this rule. Everyone here is one of the rare individuals who do not have a chakra network or any chakra at all. We are Kyo, blanks, emptiness, the void."

Takao paused to study the young boys face, giving him time to digest what he had been told. Naruto's brow was furrowed in intense concentration as he worked out the implications.

"No doubt" Takao continued "you wonder how it is that we are alive. You are not the first, nor will you be the last. It is a mystery as deep as what is beyond the veil of death."

Naruto looked up from his deep contemplation and looked to Samanosuke. The silence was punctuated by the sound of a sozu in the garden outside clacking against a rock.

"Is that why they all looked at me like that, because I don't have chakra, because I shouldn't be alive?"

Takao answered the question.

"That may have contributed but no. You are hated in Konoha because you are the Jinchuriki of the Nine Tailed Demon Fox. A human sacrifice, in which the demon has been sealed, contained."

Naruto's face paled and stomach lurched. Everyone in Konoha knew of the Demon Fox. The fourth Hokage had defeated it in battle eight years ago…but that had been a lie. It made perfect sense now. The whispers that had haunted him wherever he went clarified in his mind the truth of what he had just been told. They had all known and never told him.

After giving Naruto a moment Takao spoke. "Now… you must be thinking why we have brought you here. After all why would we go through the effort of gathering others like us for no purpose…"

Naruto nodded still contemplating the truth that had just been told to him. He held a demon inside him.

"The world is sick Naruto. It has been consumed by violence and kept that way for hundreds of years. By whom you wonder. The answer is shinobi, those who harness chakra for war, those who seal demons in children to use for war! Chakra enables a man to unleash great torrents of fire, throw lightening from his fingertips and unleash the power of demons. A shinobi's capacity for destruction is enormous. The warring shinobi clans threw this continent into chaos almost two hundred years ago and now with their hidden villages they continue to ensure there will never be peace, all in the name of profit."

A great anger started to rise from the pits of Naruto's stomach as he listened. Konoha had cursed him with the burden of a demon in order to use him as a weapon for their wars and they had rewarded him with nothing but scorn and hatred. It was unfair. It was unjust. Years of frustration that had been carefully bottled up fermented into anger.

"Fortunately they made a mistake in sealing the demon inside you Naruto. Without a chakra network you are unable to channel the demon's powers. This is probably the reason you were so easily spirited away. Luckily the demon can also never influence your mind or your body and thus the shinobi have removed a great evil from the world while robbing themselves of their most destructive tool. I offer you to join us Naruto. Our organisation of Kyo, here and spread across all the elemental nations is committed to removing the blight that is the shinobi system from this continent. We will train you and make you strong and one day there will be peace."


	2. Chapter 2

Naruto sat with Samanosuke in one of the many rooms of the giant house. He had decided to join the organisation. It had no name and no symbols. There was no uniform or one single base from which they operated. Secrecy was the most important defence for those who dedicated themselves to overthrowing the shinobi system. No one would steel themselves against an enemy they didn't know existed.

"Shinobi are the killers of men Naruto. Their chakra makes them faster, stronger, more powerful than any ordinary man. We, however, are the killers of shinobi. Any chakra techniques they use around us are weakened. Their illusions and mind tricks have no hold on us and we can become truly invisible to their senses. Don't become arrogant though. Head to head a shinobi will always kill you."

For the first time since having met him Naruto saw Samanosuke's face fall into a stony demeanour. The man's lips were drawn tight and there was a sense of heat that radiated from his eyes. There was a moment of silence as a memory of long ago passed through Samanosku's thoughts. It brought with it a pained look and a slight drooping of his shoulders, making him seem much older than he was.

"You can't hope to match a shinobi in raw power. You have to be more cunning and better prepared. You have to use every tool, every skill, and every opportunity to take one down. You're going to be taught the sword, the knife, the spear, the bow, trapping, bomb making, infiltrating and a dozen other skills but all of those are useless without a keen mind. So before anything you will study."

An enormous pile of books seemed to materialise from thin air as Samanosuke continued to pile text after text onto the desk in front of Naruto. This elicited a groan from Naruto who dropped his head onto the desk will a dull thud. The excitement that had continued to build through the older man's lecture had fled in an instant by that final statement. When he had been learning to read and write at the orphanage he would usually attempt to hide the ink stones to the best of his ability, even burying a few outside by the swings. He would also try to get rid of the brush he had been given but every time he thought he was rid of it the damn thing would be waiting for him on his desk the next morning. It was a cursed brush. He convinced himself of that every afternoon before resigning to the days lessons. There seemed to be no refuge from books and studies even this far away from his original home. Samanosuke watched him reach for the first book, trying to supress a chuckle at the completely dejected look on Naruto's face.

After several hours spent learning under the tutelage of Samanosuke Naruto was directed back to the tea room where supper was served. Naruto ate in silence together with Samanosuke and Takao. It was a simple meal of rice, grilled fish and miso soup. Although the food itself was not luxurious Naruto enjoyed a different kind of pleasure from his meal. He ate slowly and methodically, taking his time to savour the taste of the food and chew it slowly. Over thirty minutes passed before he put his chopsticks to rest.

Samanosuke excused himself before returning after a few minutes with a tea set. Steam and the scent of green tea wafted through the room as the last rays of the sun filtered in through the opened doors. Each person held their cup in front of them and dwelled in the depths of the fragrant water, each lost in their own thoughts.

"Naruto," Takao said after a moment. "You have lived all your life in a Hidden Village but do you know how they work?"

Naruto's grip on his tea cup tightened as he thought about Konoha. They had put a demon inside him then proceeded to treat him like one, like it had been his choice.

"No, Takao-sama. I don't know." He replied.

"There are five great Hidden Villages, one each in the lands of Fire, Earth, Lightening, Wind and Water. These villages are made up of various shinobi clans that banded together at the conclusion of the Warring Clans period. These days there are also shinobi who are not of a clan but I digress. They are essentially mercenaries who hire themselves out for missions such as assassination and sabotage. Anyone can hire them if they have the coin but they each have one main client that provides the vast majority of their funds, the Daimyo of their respective countries. They are used by their daimyo to jostle the established balance of power, each country always looking for advantage over the others. Now given this Imagine what would happen to these shinobi if one country was successful and came to dominate the continent or a true lasting peace was established."

Takao punctuated the question by raising his cup to his lips and taking a long sip of the tea. He gave an expectant look to Naruto and gave him a few quiet minutes to puzzle out the answer.

Unable to come up with anything satisfactory Naruto spoke with some hesitation.

"I'm sorry Takao-sama, I don't know."

"I would have been truly surprised if you had Naruto, you are only eight. This is why Samanosuke is instructing you. Anyway, if such a thing were to happen there would no longer be any reason to hire them. Well they would still get missions from the public but nothing that could compare to their employment by the Daimyo. This is why shinobi must perpetuate conflict, their livelihood, their entire purpose as an institution depends on it."

* * *

Five years passed quickly for Naruto as he trained at the mountain retreat. He had learned all that had been promised and more. He was now proficient in the use of swords, spears, and bows. On top of this he had found his talent for devising traps, during which gunpowder had quickly become his favourite second favourite substance, topped only by ramen broth. Infiltrations, poisons, assassination, tracking, surveillance, sabotage and more, Naruto was a jack of all trades and a master of none. Operatives for this organisation had to be. Kyo, people born with no chakra were few and far between. The mountain retreat was probably the largest group of them on the whole continent and they only numbered around two hundred. In comparison there were literally tens of thousands of shinobi in the Elemental Nations. This disparity in numbers meant the organisation had to stress quality and flexibility. Sure they would not be as skilled as a true specialist but their wide skill set allowed for maximum tactical flexibility.

Throughout the years, despite having worked himself to the bone Naruto had yet to best Samanosuke in any form of competition. Of course this lead to Naruto declaring loudly and often that one day he would best him. It was a promise and Naruto never went back on his promises.

On the day of his thirteenth birthday Samanosuke declared Naruto fit to attempt his first mission. The organisation Naruto was now a part of, like any other organisation, required funds in order to function. Supplies had to be bought, officials bribed and so on. Army's may march on their stomachs but money was and always would be the sinews of war. Therefore Naruto was charged with the most basic of tasks, gathering funds. He would have to locate a missing-nin, kill him then cash his head for the bounty. The house library held up to date bingo books from all major Hidden Villages. Due to their location near the border of the Land of Tea Naruto had been provided with a bingo book from Konoha.

Samanosuke had recommended he attempt to hunt a missing-nin no higher than C in rank. It was important to make money, but at this stage of Naruto's development the experience was worth much more and it was only useful if he lived to make use of it. After several long nights of deliberation and consulting with both Samanosuke and Takao Naruto decided on a C rank missing-nin named Isshin Kawanari. He was originally a chünin of Konoha known for his fire type Ninjutsu. It had been three months since he had deserted his post on the border between Fire and Tea and he had been last spotted in the town of Shiranuka a few days ago by one of the organisation members. Essentialy Kawanari was a target of opportunity, having wandered so close to Naruto's home base.

Once decided Naruto had quickly prepared his equipment, eager to use finally utilise his learning in a live combat situation. Hidden beneath a grey straight sleeved happi (The green coat Tsunade wears is a happi – a type of haori) he wore a dark blue hakama with a belt festooned with pouches for various tools and equipment. He also had two leather bandoliers that ran straight up the sides of his torso that held spherical gunpowder, flash and smoke bombs. Strapped horizontally to the small of his back under the happi was also a short wakizashi. He had decided against bringing a bow or a longer blade due to their limited effectiveness in the dense forests of the area. Satisfied with his preparations he retrieved a pack containing his food and spare clothing and made to leave the mountain retreat for the first time in five years.

At the foot of the slope he was met by Samanosuke who had been waiting to see him off.

"Hey Naruto, your first real job huh?" he said as he brought his fingers to wipe away some false tears "I'm so proud of you! Our little boy all grown up. Try not to die."

Naruto just rolled his eyes and scoffed.

"Gee thanks Osuke. If I do die I'm sure it will reflect very well on my teacher."

A chuckle escaped from Samanosuke's lips, causing a chain reaction of laughter to spill out from the two as they slapped each other on the back. Catching his breath Samanosuke reached for a long cylindrical bag made of hemp dyed a deep indigo. The mouth of the bag was held closed by two orange draw strings tied in a bow.

"I got you a little something Naruto, custom."

Samanosuke's greatest talent was in sojutsu, the art of wielding the spear. Alone he could create a twenty five square meter kill zone around his person. Of all the ways Samanosuke could best Naruto sojutsu stood out as a bonfire in a field of candles. So predictably the gift turned out to be a spear. It was in a style typical of the Land of Fire. There was a straight blade, about a foot in length, which tapered towards the very end. Much like a sword it had a tang, though extremely long, that fitted into a hollow cavity in haft, resulting in a supremely stiff weapon that would almost never lose its blade. The haft, carved in a hexagonal shape, was made from solid hardwood clad in lacquered bamboo and decorated with brass inlays and pins. Unlike other example of its kind, however, this spear was short, measuring at roughly one hundred and eighty centimetres from end to end. For Naruto it was perfect.

Removing the sheath Naruto admired the quality of the blade and how the light glinted off his surface. What really pleased him though was the fuller. The small channel that ran down the centre of the blade had been lacquered in a deep burnt orange. Beneath it towards the handle was the word maelstrom.

"This is awesome Osuke. Thanks so much! Man I'm going to kick so much ass with this thing."

Naruto embraced the man, almost skewering Samanosuke's nose with the tip of his spear.

"No worries Naruto." The older man replied. "I hope one day you'll use that spear to surpass me. Every teacher wants that for their student. Now go before I change my mind and keep you here."

Naruto blitzed off into the distance, stopping when he was guaranteed to be outside Samanosuke's reach. Turning around he yelled back to his teacher.

"There's no way you're keeping me in this dump! I'll see you when I'm swimming in ryo! Bye Osuke."

With a jaunty wave and his best handsome-devil grin Naruto turned away and headed towards Shiranuka. He had a missing-nin to hunt.


	3. Chapter 3

When Naruto arrived at Shiranuka he made a bee line for the local bar. It was a small town so it was the only drinking establishment for days. More importantly the bar keep there was a member of the organisation. In keeping with the town, it was a very plain place. The whole thing was built of the same coffee coloured wood that dominated the Land of Fire. Out front a red paper lantern was hung with the words Izakaya Den painted in a large black font.

It was about three o'clock in the afternoon, meaning the lunch crowd had already left and it was far too early to start evening drinks. This meant that when Naruto entered the place it was completely empty save for the one or two die-hard alcoholics who probably had nothing better to do. Taking up a seat at the bar Naruto greeted the petite woman standing on the other side. Named Mariko, she was a kyo, just like him. Unlike him she was a non-combatant. Not everyone who was scouted by the organisation was interested in fighting or spying or anything else that approached danger. Many only wished for a quiet life. This, however, didn't stop them from helping when they could like Mariko did when it came to keeping an eye on the various going-ons around the place. Shiranuka as a border town that saw most of the land traffic that went between the Land of Fire and the Land of Tea. Even then Shiranuka was fairly undeveloped as the vast majority of trade was done by ship that travelled up to the eastern coast of Fire. Still, there was wisdom in having someone in the town to keep an eye on things.

Tucking the sleeves of her purple kimono up to her elbows Mariko started wiping some glasses with a cloth as she waited for Naruto to say something.

"You don't need to put on the stereotypical bar keep act with me Mariko-chan." Naruto said. "I'll have some Sake by the way, one for me and one for you."

"Naruto…" She replied "You're an idiot, and under-age."

Naruto put his elbows on the counter and leaned forward "Still irresistible though. Who else has the same exotic allure as me with my sun-kissed hair and tanned skin?"

Mariko rapped him on the head with her knuckles before replying. "You reflect poorly on your teacher Naruto."

"That's only because I can't beat him in anything, including being a sleaze." He replied with a smile.

The two shared a chuckle at that. Every time Samanosuke would return from a mission or other business he would always stop by. Jewelry from Wind, pottery from Earth, or just any excuse he could think of he would use to come and talk to Mariko. He would try his hardest to chat her up, to get her to agree to a date. Mariko would always just laugh and shake her head. This had been going on for many years. If anything Samanosuke was persistant. Still, if one was to go into the back of the bar where Mariko lived you would find each gift given its own special place, kept spotlessly clean. Men like Samanosuke rarely lived long lives and Mariko didn't want anything to change.

"So" she said "I assume you're here about that missing-nin, Isshin Kawanari."

Naruto nodded as he knocked back a glass of juice that Mariko had given him.

"Well he was here about five days ago. He's probably still hiding out somewhere in the area. It was clear he was trying to cross over into Tea but for some reason border security tightened way up in the last week or so. There's no way they would increase patrols to that level just for a C rank missing-nin so be careful Naruto, there might be someone else out there."

"Do you have any idea where I should start looking for this guy? Five days is a bit old to pick up the trail in town." He asked

"If he's still set on getting into Tea he's probably hiding up in the caves towards the coast waiting for the security to cool down." She replied

"Cool thanks." He said

"Stay safe Naruto."

"I will. Cya Mariko-chan"

Pushing out his chair and grabbing his spear from where it leant on the counter Naruto walked out of the bar and back into town. He knew where the caves were. He had been taken there often for survival exercises over the last five years of training. It was on the very edge of a chain of mountains that ran down the left side of the peninsula that was the Land of Tea. As such the forest started to thin out in that area, giving anyone in the caves a good field of vision on anything that approached. He would have to be exceedingly careful. The lack of cover would only be an advantage to a fire type ninjutsu specialist. Then again he was only a C rank chünin which meant that he must be lacking in other shinobi skills.

* * *

It was only half a day or so to the foothills of the mountains where the caves were. As Naruto approached the area where the missing-nin was suspected to be, he had come across the remains of an animal buried too shallow to avoid attention. The bones he found in the disturbed soil were very brittle, indicating they had been cooked over a fire. There was also a distinct lack of teeth marks that one would expect had the animal been devoured by a wolf. It was a good sign. Someone had been hunting and eating in the area and most likely it was his target. Naruto also found more promising signs. A patch of dirt in a nearby clearing had hardened due to a fire that had been built on top of it. There were also traces of ash spread throughout the clearing and a suspicious lack of small sticks and other kindling. It seemed this chünin had avoided capture only by the virtue of being unimportant.

Soon night fell and made Naruto's job that much easier. Truly the quality of shinobi had to be falling. A single cave stood out among the others as its entrance was awash in the glow of a fire. Naruto almost fell over when he saw it.

"This chünin is an idiot!" He thought to himself.

Approaching the bright glowing cave Naruto hid himself over the lip of a small ridge roughly a hundred meters away from the entrance. Once settled in he pushed some dirt away to form a small depression and retrieved a blue and green cloak from his pack and draped it over his prone body with the blue side facing outwards. The colour of the cloak made him almost invisible in the night. From that position he watched the mouth of the cave. It seemed his information had been out of date as there was two shinobi, one that was clearly Kawanari and another that he didn't recognise. The mystery-nin had medium length silver hair tucked under a blue bandanna with the Konoha headband sewed to the front. Interestingly the silver-haired man's forehead protector didn't have the usual scratch mark that denoted their missing-nin status. What was truly curious though was the giant scroll that the man had strapped to his back. It had to be almost as big as Naruto from the waist down, including the width of his legs. It looked valuable and this other man was clearly a recent deserter as well considering Kawanari wasn't tied up or otherwise contained. It seemed Naruto had hit the jackpot. Not one but two idiot missing-nin along with a probably valuable scroll.

Deciding on his course of action Naruto packed away the cloak and double checked his equipment. Leaving his pack in the small depression he had just vacated Naruto started to stalk his way towards the cave. He took his time moving cover to cover and avoiding the direct moonlight. It wasn't really necessary considering the fire the two had been staring into right in the middle of the cave. Their eyes wouldn't be adjusted to see in the dark and the placement of their light source meant pretty much anything outside that cave might as well be invisible. Still it was good not to ever fall into bad habits or underestimate your enemy.

It only took a few minutes for Naruto to reach the mouth of the cave where he hid himself around the corner of the entrance, pushing himself into a little stone alcove in the Cliffside. He stopped himself from reaching into one of his pouches when the sounds of conversation started to drift out of the cave.

"I guess this is your fault Mizuki. I was wondering why the border got sown up so quickly. The Land of Tea never gets this much attention."

"We just have to wait and stay hidden until things cool off. It'll be worth it in the end I'm telling you. Once we get this scroll to Orochimaru-sama we'll be made for life."

"Well I can't say I'm all that happy I ran into you. I mean stealing the scroll of seals? You must be fucking insane! There's going to be ANBU crawling around everywhere."

"Orochimaru-sama's base is just on the other side of the border. It's not far. We'll be fine. I pinned the theft on an academy student and it bought me some time. They probably didn't figure out it was me until I didn't show up to teach on Monday since I killed the kid before I left."

"Well at least there's something going fo-"

He never finished his sentence as suddenly a great flash of light and a deafening bang exploded from the centre of the cavern. Disoriented and groggy Isshin heaved himself to the side on instinct as a throwing knife sunk into the earth where he had been sitting. Scrabbling for a kunai he stood himself up against the wall of the cave as the black spots on his vision started to clear. His head was pounding and his ears were ringing as he tried to spot his assailant. The fire, however, had been scattered and now there were only glowing embers scattered around the floor with the odd shard of wood still alight. The sudden drop in the amount life meant he couldn't see a thing.

As his panic started to rise agony blossomed from his stomach. He dropped his kunai and clutched at the object protruding from his body. He felt a long wooden pole slick with his blood between his hands. He tried to pull it out but the pain and the blood loss made him weak. Isshin knew he was dead. He was dead and it was Mizuki's fault. He had been doing just fine, staying away from the limelight, before that crazy bastard and his ANBU pursuers showed up. With his breath quickly slowing Isshin resolved to kill at least one of these bastards, An ANBU or hopefully Mizuki, before he went down.

Forming hand seals as quickly as his concentration allowed Isshin started to gather every last scrap of chakra he had in his body. There was no point in conserving it now. With the final hand seal he released it all.

* * *

Naruto, having heard enough of the conversation between the missing-nin, had tossed a flash bomb into the cave. After waiting a half count he had spun into the entrance and tossed a fan of knives before rushing in and kicking the fire, scattering its remnants all over the cavern. When he spotted one of them preparing a kunai he threw his spear and his aim was true. It pierced straight through the missing-nins stomach causing him to slump against the wall. He was dead.

Forgetting him Naruto turned to the remaining one with silver hair, Mizuki he'd been called. It seemed this one had recovered much faster than his partner as he stood in a ready stance with two kunai in his hands. Naruto drew his own Wakizashi and called out.

"So your name is Mizuki huh, doesn't that mean beautiful moon? That's an awfully girly name for a Missing-nin. Perhaps your mother always wanted a girl and had to make do with you."

The silver haired man growled and didn't move from his position but the soft glow of the dying embers on the ground showed that anger was clear across his face.

Naruto slowly started to circle around the missing-nin towards the entrance of the cave, stepping carefully to avoid getting a burning piece of wood in his sandals. He couldn't afford to be cornered inside the cave in case he found himself outmatched. He had only taken about three steps when Mizuki's eyes suddenly widened before the missing-nin dashed towards the entrance, completely ignoring the threat of Naruto attacking him from behind.

Confused Naruto looked back only to see Isshin, who he had thought dead, holding his hands in front of him in what was clearly a shinobi hands seal.

"Son of a bitch!" Naruto yelled in his mind before he too copied Mizuki and dashed towards the entrance of the cave.

Just as he was about to exit a shock wave punched through his body, causing his bones to shake and knocking the air from his lungs. Then the actual blast of fire caught up to him and threw his body like a rag doll down the slope outside.

When Naruto came to a stop against a small boulder protruding from the ground he was covered in scratches and bruises. It also hurt him to breathe as the super-heated air from the fire had burnt the inside of the nasal passages. He was extremely lucky. If he had been anyone else who was not a Kyo the blast would have surely been enough to kill him. He had fucked up and he knew it. With a groan he realised Samanosuke would never let him live this down. Getting up from the ground Naruto made his way back to the cave noticing a sharp pain radiating from his left arm. He knew that it was most likely broken or at least fractured and would need to be splinted at the very least. When he entered the cave he felt himself almost suffocating on the extremely hot air. The stone was blackened and the interior felt exactly like an oven. His already burned nostrils protested but Naruto had to get his spear and at least the head of his original target.

Isshin was still slumped at the back of the cave. And Naruto swore when he saw the body. It seemed Isshin had lost control of the technique in his final moments meaning his body was now nothing but a charred lump of unidentifiable meat. There was no way Naruto would be able to cash that bounty in now. Somewhat mollified by his spear somehow surviving the fire Naruto grabbed it and left the cave. He also wanted that scroll that the other missing-nin had fled with. From what Isshin had said it was extremely valuable and Konoha would pay a hefty sum for its return. He was definitely going to find and kill that silver haired bastard.


	4. Chapter 4

Naruto had spent all night making his way back to Shiranuka, arriving early in the morning just as the sun was rising. He had hoped to pursue Mizuki immediately but his injuries had forced him to admit that finding some medical attention would be more prudent. He pushed his way through the door to Izakaya Den and slumped into a chair, throwing his bag off to the side and putting his spear to rest as he cradled his left arm. He had bandaged it up together with a stick to hopefully keep it stabilised but it was a hack job at best with only one hand to do it. Within a few seconds Mariko came out from the back of the bar.

"We're not open yet so… Oh my god Naruto! Are you okay? I thought you said you would stay safe."

She rushed over to him and fussed over his appearance. Naruto had to admit that he had looked better. The back of his clothes and quite a bit of his hair had been singed in the fire blast, not to mention the spots of blood and the deep purple bruises all over his body.

"Hey I'm alive aren't I? And Isshin's dead. Score one Naruto." He replied

"Well it looks like you busted up your arm pretty well." She replied. "What happened?"

A slight blush started to rise on Naruto's face as he started rubbing the back of his head with his one good arm. It really had been a stupid oversight that nearly got him killed, not to mention he had no idea how skilled this Mizuki character was.

"Well… I killed him, and then when I was fighting this other guy… he blew me up."

"Wait, what?"

Naruto had a good chuckle at the look of complete confusion on Mariko's face but then quickly fell into a scowl.

"Yeah and he blew himself up too! I can't even cash in his bounty now. All that damn work for nothing."

"Well how about I get you something hot to eat and you can tell me all about it, and then we can go get you a doctor to fix up your arm."

"That sounds good to me."

Mariko left to enter the kitchen, leaving Naruto alone in the main area of the bar. He started thinking about Mizuki and how he could possibly track him with his arm out of commission for at least a couple of weeks. The silver haired man seemed pretty intent on reaching a specific place in the Land of Tea and would have to cross the border at some point in order to do so. There were other possibilities such as taking a ship but all the ports in Fire would be monitored which would mean Mizuki would have to make it to the Land of Rivers at the very least which would involve another border crossing. No, it seemed fairly certain that Mizuki would try the land route into Tea and stick around for a while until the border patrols lightened up. That likely wouldn't happen for another few months so that left Naruto with plenty of time to recuperate.

Satisfied with his deductions Naruto's mind turned to food. He was beaten and bloody and a hot meal sounded heavenly. In fact he could smell the sweet smell of miso wafting through the kitchen door and his mouth started to salivate in anticipation. To him, ramen was the breakfast of champions. It was an agonising wait as time seemed to drag on and on as his stomach started to rumble and pangs of hunger started to pinch at his sides.

Finally Mariko arrived with his meal and placed it on the counter. Wasting no time Naruto dug in, his chopsticks a blur in his hand. Then just as Naruto was getting to the middle of his meal the door to the bar opened as a small bell in the corner rang to announce the new visitor. Naruto turned his head, curious as to who else would be coming in to the bar so early in the morning, and almost dropped his chopsticks.

"You!" He shouted, pointing at the man with the wooden utensils "Are you a fucking idiot? What the hell are you doing here?"

Standing there was Mizuki, the scroll of sealing strapped to his back, holding a huge fuma shuriken in his hands. This had definitely been unexpected. All that careful thought Naruto had put into Mizuki's next move had been completely off and a waste of time. That pissed Naruto off so he continued to shout.

"This isn't what you're supposed to be doing! Goddamn it!"

Mizuki was momentarily taken aback by Naruto's reaction. He wondered if the boy was entirely sane. He recovered quickly though, there was no shortage of eccentric people back in Konoha especially among the shinobi.

"You saw my face and you overheard my plan's you little shit. There was no way I was going to let you live from the moment you attacked me." He said with a sneer.

Naruto gave him a droll look. "So you decided to walk into town. A town right near the border that you're trying to cross. A border, I might add, that's being patrolled by dozens of shinobi who want to kill you AND you brought the scroll of sealing instead of hiding it somewhere."

"Shut up! You won't be so smart when your spilling your guts." Mizuki snarled "Now die!"

As Mizuki flung the shuriken Naruto dived over the bar counter, sending cups and his bowel of ramen tumbling to the floor where they shattered into dozens of pieces. As Naruto landed he swore as his broken arm was jostled and then swore even louder when the shuriken stopped just short of impaling his face as it became stuck halfway through the bar counter. Quickly scrambling to his feet Naruto reached into one of his pouches lamenting his useless left hand. Pulling out a trio of throwing knives he tossed them in Mizuki's general direction as he burst out of cover and dashed towards a window on the left.

The silver haired man only wasted a moment dodging the poorly aimed projectiles before he started a quick chain of hand seals, spitting high velocity earthen projectiles at Naruto. Reacting to the attack Naruto grabbed one of the wooden tables in his path and lifted it as a makeshift shield. The angle he held it at meant that the stone projectiles met the table's surface at an acute angle, ricocheting off it unable to transfer its full kinetic energy. Still, the thing only held up to a three or four blows before it had pretty much fallen apart. By the time that had happened though Naruto had already reached the window which he then promptly leapt through, smashing the glass in his way

He landed roughly on the street outside rolling in a way to try and spare his left arm from impacting the ground. Spitting out a bit of dirt he had swallowed in his tumble he yelled back at the window.

"My goddamn ramen!"

In response three regular shuriken flew out of the window forcing Naruto to roll to the side to dodge them before he got back onto his feet and started running. Mizuki leapt out of the window behind him in hot pursuit constantly taking pot shots at Naruto as they ran through the sleepy village. Luckily for Naruto Mizuki was slowed by the weight of the scroll on his back and so was making little progress on actually closing the distance between them.

Reaching the centre of town Naruto abruptly turned left into a small alleyway between some of the larger buildings. A few meters in he jumped into the air and spun around, throwing darts connected by steel wire into the walls, before landing facing his original direction. As Mizuki turned the corner he wasted precious time cutting through the small web that had been deployed ahead of him as he saw Naruto disappear around another corner. Now began the game of cat and mouse, with both participants convinced they were the cat.

As this had been going on Mariko had been running through the town herself, warning residents to stay indoors lest they get caught in the crossfire between the two battlers. Many people had been sceptical as they hadn't heard any sounds of battle or seen anything out of the ordinary. There had even been a particularly stubborn old man who insisted on his morning walk because it helped loosen his bowels. Mariko hadn't known exactly how to respond to that but after a lot of prodding and nagging she had managed to make the man go home. As for anyone else she had missed, they soon figured this out on their own when the sound of an explosion rocked the village.

* * *

Naruto was braced against a wall panting hard as he tried to draw breath into his burning lungs. He cursed his luck. The vast majority of his equipment was still in his pack back at the bar. He definitely had not been expecting an extended engagement at breakfast. By this point the two had been chasing each other through the streets for a good two hours and in that time Naruto had used almost all the tools he had on him. That last attempt with all his remaining gunpowder bombs had been promising but ultimately only managed to force another doton jutsu from the man. Sure it tired him and he was now probably somewhat low on chakra but Naruto was dead tired as well. He did a quick inventory and came up with one smoke bomb, one flash bomb and a length of wire. That was it. He stared at the three objects in his hand and formulated a plan.

Several minutes later he stood facing Mizuki on the rooftop of the inn. It was a U shaped building that was three stories tall, the top floor being the home of the owner and the lower two the inn itself. Mizuki had a kunai in his hand and opposite to him Naruto just eased into a taijutsu stance with his two fists extended in front of him. At this point Mizuki had run out of things to throw besides that one kunai so it would come to a melee to decide the victor.

Mizuki smirked as he saw how bedraggled Naruto was. The young boy was completely drenched in sweat and his eyes had that vacant look that came with total fatigue. It seemed this would finally be the end and Mizuki gave a smile that reached ear to ear. Deciding to take the initiative Mizuki charged Naruto yelling at the top of his lungs. When he arrived just a few feet short of striking distance he saw Naruto's face transform into a smirk. A small round object dropped from Naruto's left hand and exploded. A huge gout of smoke flushed out from the tiny ball cloaking the both of them and reducing visibility to nil. It was too late for Mizuki to come to a stop. He had built up far too much momentum on the charge. As he lurched forward he felt a foot come in and hook him around the ankle attempting to trip him. He recovered from the attempt and slowed himself enough to turn to re-engage.

Due to the wide open nature of the roof top and its elevation the smoke had started to clear almost immediately after the bomb went off. This allowed Mizuki to see that he was standing on the edge of the rooftop. Relieved that he hadn't fallen off he tried to make out Naruto's position and strained his eyes into the dissipating smoke. Something else entirely appeared in his vision. A small black ball flew up from below to reach right between his eyes barely an inch from his face. In a brilliant flash of light and a deafening bang it went off causing Mizuki to react by stepping backwards.

Deaf, blind and disoriented Mizuki panicked. If unaffected he should have easily been able to right himself and land safely. This wasn't the case. Naruto also had a form of insurance. As Mizuki reached about halfway to the ground his head was cleaved off his body by a wire suspended between the wings of the inn. He had never seen it coming.

Naruto stood up from where he had been lying on the ground after he had swept his leg into Mizuki and thrown the flash bomb into his vision to peer over the edge of the building. He cringed when he saw the blood that had spattered all over the windows of the inn as the head had gone spinning to the ground. The shocked looks of all the inn's patrons looking through them was worse. It looked like Naruto would have to buy the inn-keeper an expensive gift. A very expensive gift.


	5. Chapter 5

Naruto made his way down to the ground and walked over to Mizuki's body. Miraculously the scroll of seals had been unharmed. It didn't even have a spot of blood on it. Hefting it up off of the dead missing-nin's back Naruto was surprised by just how heavy it was as a slow smile grew on his face. No doubt there would be a hefty bounty on Mizuki's head in addition to whatever Konoha would pay for the return of the scroll. It looked like things had turned out for the best in the end. Naruto put one end of the scroll on the ground and placed his hand on the other end to keep it upright. Throwing his head back he laughed into the morning sky.

When he turned his head back down he noticed he was surrounded. Four shinobi wearing the porcelain masks of Konoha ANBU stood around him with their weapons drawn. The one in the dog mask, apparently the leader, stepped forward and spoke.

"Hand over the scroll kid."

Naruto raised his eyebrow and gave the shinobi a piercing look.

"So you guys turn up after the fights all over and you expect me to hand it over just like that?"

"Yes."

"How about no?"

The four ANBU tensed, coiling their muscles in preparation for an attack.

"I'll hand it over." Naruto said "If you guys pay me what I'm owed. After all I did just recover it for you."

Everyone looked towards Mizuki's corpse cooling on the ground. The four Konoha shinobi did a double take between the young boy and the clean split between Mizuki's head and the rest of his body.

"You did this?" The Dog asked

Naruto rolled his eyes. "Do you see anyone else here wearing weapons besides us five?"

A bounty had been posted on Mizuki almost as soon as it had been discovered what he had done. It was quite a sum, probably more than any other chünin ever in the history of the leaf. When the ANBU patrol had felt chakra spiking in the little town they hadn't expected a situation quite like this.

"Very well a reward will be sent to you after we have verified it. Hand it over."

Naruto put shook his finger at Dog.

"How about I come with you to Konoha to make sure that happens?"

The scroll of seals was an extremely dangerous artefact and the idea of having to bargain with some snot nosed kid for it left a bad taste in the shinobi's mouths. Still, since he had apparently killed Mizuki and obtained the scroll legitimately he was owed the bounty money at the very least.

"Fine," Dog said "We move out after we confirm with the townspeople."

Naruto swung the scroll onto his back with the strap Mizuki had attached to it and quickly ran to go grab his equipment pack from the bar. After scrawling a quick note apologising the damage and promising to pay for it with all the ryo he was about to earn Naruto left and met up with the Konoha ANBU.

"Well kid." A snake masked one spoke up. "Looks like you really did get Mizuki. I'm impressed. Sure he was a two bit, unskilled, joke of a shinobi but hey a civilian taking one down is pretty cool."

Naruto snickered and replied "And what does that say about the shinobi who needed a civilian to do their job for them?"

Snake bristled at the implications but was subtly told to stand down by her superior officer. Naruto enjoyed watching her try to swallow her anger immensely. He reminded himself that these people were the enemy. Takao and Samanosuke had taught him that pretty well. Still he was in no position now to fight these people and it would be meaningless anyway. It was far better to co-operate for now and get his hands on some of their money. As they left the small town Naruto couldn't help but admire the purple haired ANBU's figure from behind. Her temper just made her that much more attractive. That is to say, Naruto had a thing for women with fiery dispositions.

Naruto walked much more slowly than he was capable of, partly because he was still fairly tired from his recent battle and mostly because the slow civilian pace was starting to grate on snake-mask's nerves. Since he was so pre-occupied watching the girl he didn't notice as the other three shinobi started to confer quietly amongst each other. More than few quiet whispers and sidelong glances at Naruto were shared as they walked along the dirt road.

When the party stopped for the night at a roadside inn Dog started a discussion with two of his sub-ordinates, cat and eagle, away from the listening ears of Naruto. Snake was far too much occupied arguing with the damn kid to participate. They were currently sat inside the tavern area of the inn nursing some non-alcoholic drinks that they somehow managed to drink with no one seeing their faces.

"Of course he doesn't have much chakra. He's not a trained shinobi." Cat said

"No you misunderstand me senpai." Eagle replied. "He has no chakra." This time he stained the word 'no'.

"I can't sense a drop of it inside him. Don't you think it's bizarre that we only felt one set of chakra spikes on the way into town?"

"Maybe he's just supressing it?" Cat offered.

"True, he could also have so little chakra that I'm not skilled enough to sense it but I got right up to the kid. I even touched him. There should've been something there."

Dog spoke up for the first time since the discussion had started.

"Don't overly concern yourself with it Eagle. The scroll is our main objective not some random kids medical oddities."

Dog knew exactly why Naruto was so peculiar but that information was classified far beyond his fellow ANBU's heads. Knowing that also filled Dog with excitement. He had never thought he would run into the blond haired kid out on the border of Tea and Fire of all places. For now though, he would keep quiet until he could get the boy inside the Hokage's office.


	6. Chapter 6

Naruto and company were a few days into their journey back to Konoha. At the moment they were passing through the port town of Kaneyama that abutted the Kaizoku Sea. Its close proximity to the Land of Noodles, Wave and its numerous trade routes that travelled north to the Land of Lightening and east to the Land of Water and beyond made it a central trade hub. Goods from most of the southern half of the world, including the southern coast of the eastern continent, passed through Kaneyama's ports before continuing north or moving westward over land. This was also true for goods moving in the opposite direction.

Fifty years ago Kaneyama had not held anywhere near as much importance. It had been one of the many large ports on Fire's eastern coast. The beginnings civil unrest in the Land of Water and the lack of infrastructure in both Noodle and Wave had meant Kaneyama was the most logical place for trade to re-route. Indeed, many shipping corporations and merchant houses had shifted headquarters out of the Water and into Fire following the flow of trade.

This was the true nature of Fire's advantage and dominance over the other nations of the Elemental nations. Its central position, terrain, climate and population size made it an economic juggernaut that could exert its influence in ways that simply could not be stopped. Its court in the city of Keishi was said to be the most opulent in the entire world. Whispers of wild orgies and parties where gold flowed like water and exotic animals were brought to be slaughtered and eaten among its naked patrons flittered through the other nations.

Any well informed citizen of Fire would laugh if confronted with such rumours and so would the more politically inclined members of the other countries. The Land of Fire's current daimyo's obsessions ran in another direction entirely. Military might. That was the point of fixation for Maeda Keijiro, the current daimyo. Infatuated with the era of samurai that preceded the Warring Clan period he spared no expense in the development of the military. He himself relentlessly drilled his personal guard with a gruelling efficiency, rising each day at five in the morning, donning his red and gold armour, and rousing his men for a morning march. He would even take court in his war-gear, giving rise to a common joke that many of his concubines had never seen his face as it was often hidden behind his armour.

As such Naruto and the four ANBU weren't surprised at first to see dozens of militia units and their samurai captains patrolling the streets. After all the port was of imminent importance to the financial health of Fire and therefore it's military. It did come as a surprise, however, when soldiers of the Daimyo's legions came marching through the streets, their sashimono (banners worn on the back) fluttering through the air emblazoned with the symbol of Fire. Soldiers of the legions were almost never deployed domestically. That duty was left to the militia. Clearly something had to have happened to justify their presence in the city and as the group passed towards the centre of the city and the central ports it started to become clearer.

The streets were eerily empty and groups of civilians travelled in groups no larger than two or three. What should be a bustling city of commerce had its streets occupied only by groups of patrolling soldiers. On one occasion Naruto observed a building in middle of a raid by the authorities. Several people, dressed in tatters of clothing, were held face first to the ground as officers secured their wrists and hands with rope. The cut of their clothing and the presence of accessories made of carved soapstone identified them as refugees from Water. The last five years had seen their numbers explode as the civil war in the Land of Water continued to escalate.

It wasn't soon after when a small boy came dashing out of an alley before roughly shouldering past Naruto. Just when the little kid had felt he had gotten away Snake grasped him around the neck and flung him to the ground. Quickly ditching a small green wallet in the shape of a frog the kid fled, disappearing into the side streets of the city.

"uhh… thanks I guess." Naruto said.

"Keep your eyes in your fucking skull kid." Snake spat. "I shouldn't have to look out for you."

Moving a little faster after that incident, Naruto and his escorts passed through the port district. The area had been completely taken over by shanty towns sprouting up like fungus near the docks. Many of the dilapidated buildings in the area were plastered in graffiti and the stench of human filth. One particularly eye catching slogan announced in bright red letters 'Water-rats fuck off and die'. Each refugee there seemed more like animals than people by this point. They scattered like roaches when patrols of militia passed through the clogged streets.

"Well this is unsettling isn't it?" Naruto said.

"Just shut up and keep your head down." Snake replied "you're lucky you're with us or you definitely would've been locked up."

"What do you mean?" he said

"Do you think they would let a walking armoury just wander around?" Eagle supplied.

"Fair point," Naruto grumbled "but not like they could catch me anyway."

"Shut up, all of you" Dog snapped "I hear something."

The low rumbling of marching feet started to echo down the street, bouncing off the tall buildings on each side. It was quite unlike the synchronised march of trained soldiers and more like the sound of a rolling storm bank as it floated through the city. Soon the rumblings were pierced by the sharp cries of men shouting and screaming at the top of their lungs.

"Trouble," Naruto said

Snake turned her head at him and said "How fucking astute of you blondie."

"Bite me blueberry."

"For the last goddamn time"

"You two stop arguing. We don't have the time." Dog interjected

The ominous sound had been growing louder and had finally materialised into a crowd that turned the corner ahead of the group. Marching towards them was a mob of water refugees carrying torches and make-shift weapons. Several banners were held aloft amidst the crowd, damning fire country, the daimyo and the local governor. From another wide throughway that connected to the current street another mob of people could be found marching towards the other. This group, however, were clearly citizens of Fire who were just as disgruntled with the Water refugees as they were with them. Several of them had managed to acquire spears and swords and stood as the vanguard, their weapons brandished before them promising bloodshed. The four ANBU quickly dashed up onto a nearby rooftop with Dog holding Naruto by the scruff of his shirt.

"We have to de-escalate the situation." Cat said.

Snake just laughed "When the fuck does the daimyos legions ever de-escalate anything."

"Snake is right." Dog said "Our objective is to get the scroll back to Konoha, not play peacekeeper. We need to exfiltrate from the city before were hemmed in by the legions supressing the mobs."

"Hold on," Eagle spoke up "I sense a strong chakra signal in one of the crowds."

"Shinobi…." Naruto muttered under his breath.

Holding perfectly still in concentration Eagle sharpened his chakra senses trying to identify who was giving off the signal. At the head of the crowd of Water refugees was a teenager, probably only fourteen or fifteen years old, with dull red hair playing a steel flute. The music seemed to invigorate the crowd whose howls of indignation and bloodlust peaked with the music.

"It's that girl." Eagle said. "At least jounin level chakra signature and she's creating some kind of genjutsu with that flute."

"What's her affiliation?' Dog queried.

"Undeclared. I don't see any plate."

"New plan. Naruto you will exfiltrate with the scroll of seals and meet us in the town of Fujisaki forty kilometres north of here in two days. Snake, Eagle, and Cat we will apprehend the unidentified shinobi for interrogation before rendezvousing with Naruto and returning the Konoha."

"You're going to trust the brat with the scroll of seals?" Snake demanded.

"I trust him." Dog replied

Naruto hadn't heard a word they had said as he could scarcely believe his own eyes. At the head of the fire country crowd was Samanosuke, Spear in hand aloft, shouting angry exhortations at the crowd following in his wake, demanding them to take back their homes and take back their jobs by any means possible.

The bloodshed here would be immeasurable if nothing was done. Chaos would descend on the city as violence, looting and rape spread like a wildfire through the streets and at the head of it all was an unknown shinobi and Naruto's mentor, Samanosuke Nankobo.


	7. Chapter 7

Kaneyama was ablaze. The shanty town of water refugees had been the first to catch fire. Packed in close and made of wood and scraps of fabric all it had taken was a single discarded torch. The clamour of conflict was soon joined by the screams of those fleeing the flames, some breathing their last as the smoke choked the air from their lungs and others cooked in their own clothing. Like a tinder box the fire had quickly spread from the ghettos to the surrounding districts.

Amidst this chaos soldiers in red armour, flickering with the orange glow of fire, marched down the streets cutting down those that resisted. Coming through the haze of ash in their masks and helmets they resembled nothing more than creatures of hell pouring out of the earth to claim the souls of mortals. It had quickly become unclear who was whose enemy or what goal had hoped to be achieved. Windows were smashed and doors kicked down as stores and homes were robbed and stripped. People cowered in their homes holding onto each other, praying to whichever deity would deign to show them favour.

Naruto had been caught in the surge of human bodies as he had searched for Samanosuke. The man had disappeared into the anarchy like a will-o-wisp, a spirit with neither presence nor substance. A split second of broken line of sight had been enough to lose him in the battle. Naruto felt sickened as he saw ordinary people, so civilised in everyday life, club each other like animals with their bare fists and paving stones lifted from the road. Blood ran through the streets and humming underneath the battle cries was the mewling of the dying.

He had been carried by the flow of people to one of the central squares near the port district. Three of the four streets leading to the square had been blocked off by the Daimyo's legions. Unaware and unable to see the blocked streets, the crush of people behind Naruto continued to push into the square. Straight ahead Naruto saw a line of spearmen, the butts of their weapons dug into the earth as they projected a glimmering wall of blades in front of them. Immediately to the rear of them, two ranks deep, stood rows of armoured men with their crude tanegashima (matchlocks) trained at the crowd. Immediately behind them standing on a raised platform was the Captain, denoted by the small gunbai held in his left hand.

"Civilians of Kaneyama and Water refugees" He yelled into the crowd. "Stand down and cease your resistance! You will disperse peacefully or as an agent of the Daimyo I will force you to disperse!"

Many in the crowd saw the weapons and feared for their lives. They wished to stop. To lie down and live another day but the weight of human bodies behind them fleeing from the docks inexorably pushed them forward closer and closer to the military cordon.

The Land of Fire had not been involved in a serious conflict for many years. This in turn meant many of the soldiers in the legions had never or rarely seen any kind of combat. For all the doctrine, drill and arms an inexperienced soldier would never develop without seeing conflict. This riot in Kaneyama was the closest many of the men in the legion garrisoned there had ever experienced to the pell-mell pandemonium of combat. Many of the men in the cordon around that square were sweating profusely, their breath coming ragged and short as they held their guns aloft on the crowd. Thousands of people packed close together, some brandishing weapons and lit torches, were descending on them, a line mere three men thick. In their fear women and children were lost in the crowd unable to be seen.

The lieutenant in the front rank saw the nerves wearing thin among his men. He himself had lived through the last Shinobi World War and had the scars to prove it. After facing down men who could summon great dragons of fire and summon beasts as large as mountains he felt little fear facing down this rabble of merchants and farmers. The same could not be said of his men.

"Hold steady!" he called "Wait for your orders! Hold steady!"

The throng of people continued to grow closer. Thirty meters. Twenty five. Twenty. Fifteen.

A shot rang out from the very end of the line.

A woman who had been holding her head down slumped to the ground as blood gushed from her abdomen.

An instant later the whole line opened fire in staggered bursts as they panicked. One hundred people in the crowd dropped instantly, their bodies torn asunder or limbs blown off by the heavy lead shot. Screams broke out of the crowd, of fear and of anger. The crowd surged in all directions looking for escape or retribution. The thin red line of soldiers was swept away by the bodies of the crowd as many impaled themselves on the spear points clearing the way for those behind them. As the crowd scattered into the streets they trampled the slow and the weak beneath their feet, women, children, the old and the infirm.

Naruto tried to take a side street, hoping to avoid the majority of the crowds. Slipping into an alley he looked for an egress point where he could scale up to the top of the buildings. He was soon intercepted though by a group of Water refugees equipped with weapons looted from the dead soldiers. They charged at him with no warning. Forced to defend himself Naruto drew his wakizashi. The men were untrained and unfamiliar with their weapons having just acquired them and thus were clumsy in their attacks. Ducking past the first awkward thrust Naruto rose with his weapon, throwing the momentum of his body into his sword as he removed the man's hand at the wrist. He then twisted his body to the left to avoid another spear thrust and kicked the man in the knee, snapping the ligaments that held it together. Now on his knees and reeling from the pain the second man could do nothing as Naruto's short blade swung into his shoulder and partially into his neck. The third man simply dropped his weapon and fled.

An acrid taste filled Naruto's mouth as he watched the life drain out of the two men who had attacked him. He had been forced to defend himself in a way he never should have. With thoughts of the men's faces haunting him Naruto took the scaled a nearby building, clearing the crowds and gaining some measure of safety. Behind him he could see columns of thick black smoke rising from the city. Suddenly a gargantuan spout of water burst from the sea before morphing into a long sinuous dragon. It rose into the sky above the city and exploded into a cloud of water before dropping to the ground.

"The ANBU" Naruto thought to himself.

He had never thought he would see such a devastating technique used as a fire fighting tool. A section of the city had its black smoke dispersed as the hiss of falling water turned into steam on the raging fires creating a hazy mist that floated back towards the ocean. Naruto squeezed his hands into fists. For the first time in his life Naruto regretted his inability to use chakra, such power. He felt helpless in the face of the sheer weight of the turmoil that had engulfed the city and all he could do was stand there and watch.

Tears streamed down Naruto's face as he considered the senseless loss of life around him. He could not believe that Samanosuke had wrought such a situation. He needed answers and he would get them. His mind made up Naruto moved across the rooftops towards the ANBU. He needed to ask that red haired shinobi some questions.


	8. Chapter 8

Naruto arrived on the section of roof top occupied by the four ANBU. Dog was currently down on his knees softly panting as he recovered from the huge expenditure of chakra. The other three had taken position around him, slowly scanning the surrounding area for any threats. Their heads immediately swivelled to face Naruto when he touched down on the ceramic tiles with a soft clink. The boy was completely dishevelled. A bone white grip held his sword covered in a dark patina of drying blood. His face was set by the clenching of his teeth that hissed lightly as he rapidly drew breath.

"Where is she?" Naruto demanded.

"What the fuck are you doing here kid?" snake said.

"I just asked you where the fuck she is!"

"Who?"

"The goddamn red head, who else?"

"She got away." Cat said

Naruto screamed and pulled at his hair.

"God fucking dammit. FUCK."

The ANBU looked on in confusion at Naruto's sudden conniption as the young boy pulled at his hair and shouted his throat raw. Looking at one another, the four shinobi gave each other a subtle shake of the head, communicating that none of them knew what had brought this on. Naruto meanwhile was broiling in his own frustrations. The girl had gotten away as well, and now there was nothing immediate he could do. He knew that he couldn't tell these four shinobi what he had witnessed or how exactly Samanosuke related to him, after all he couldn't sell out the organisation on so little information. He had to be patient and obtain a clearer picture before acting. There was only one thing he could do. Naruto unstrapped the scroll of seals from his body and dropped it at his feet.

"Take it back yourselves. Send the money to Izakaya Den in Shiranuka."

With that said Naruto turned towards the southern end of the city and started to move. He wanted to return to the mountain retreat as soon as possible to speak to Takao about what had occurred in Kaneyama.

Dog grimaced under his mask as he watched Naruto dash over the rooftops. He had no idea what had caused Naruto to lose interest in going to Konoha, but whatever had happened Naruto leaving was not in his best interests. He had already stretched his luck with the Hokage by asking leave from his Jounin-sensei duties to hunt down the scroll and then spending several weeks away. If the Hokage found out he had let Naruto just leave…

"Cat, Snake, Eagle. Retrieve the boy. We need to take him to Konoha."

Ever the consummate professionals, only Snake hesitated before following in pursuit of the boy. Dog himself was far too low in chakra for an effective chase and so he followed after his team at a much lesser intensity after retrieving the scroll of seals. It was only a few seconds before they caught up with Naruto. They stopped in his way and Eagle stepped forward, his hand outstretched warning Naruto to stop.

"What do you guys want?" Naruto asked.

"I'm afraid you have to come with us to Konoha." Eagle said.

"I don't think so."

Naruto drew a flash bomb into his left hand. There was a funny inclination for people to follow the eyes of whoever they were facing. This was a trick often used by street magicians to mislead and misdirect someone's vision while the other hand did something else. Thus when Naruto turned his eyes to his left hand so too did the ANBU, only Naruto knew not to linger too long. A blinding flash of light burst forth from a small bomb giving cover for Naruto to escape down the side of the building. What Naruto didn't know was that ANBU masks were designed to effectively inhibit the effect of tactics such as flash bombs. It only took a few short seconds for the ANBU to recover before they too leapt down the side of the building.

There was no point in leaving the city while the ANBU were chasing him. The city streets and the chaos of the riots would be much more advantageous to Naruto than his pursuers. Leaving here for the far more open terrain of the flat plains surrounding Kaneyama would make it far too easy for them to hunt him. So, Naruto needed to throw off the shinobi here in the city.

"Eagle," Cat said. "Can you sense him at all?"

"No, he has no chakra signature at all."

"I guess we'll have to do this the old fashion way." Snake said.

The purple haired ANBU reached under her mask and bit her finger, drawing blood. Clasping her hands together into a series of seals she smacked her palm to the ground, causing a puff of smoke. Dozens of small snakes surged from the retreating cloud and slithered away into the urban sprawl before them.

Naruto kicked down a door to an abandoned building hoping to break any line of sight from his pursuers. As he was running up the stairs to the second floor a shape hidden in the shadows struck, flying towards his neck. Naruto lashed out on instinct with his arm, hoping to deflect the projectile. It turned out to be a snake and it bit down on his forearm with animalistic glee. Swearing Naruto smashed his arm against a pillar with the snake still attached, smashing the reptiles head between his armguard hidden under his sleeve and the hard surface of the wood. The snake disappeared in a puff of smoke. That had been too close.

Sweating profusely Naruto reached the second floor as the sounds of boots bouncing off hardwood started to echo up the stairwell. Steadying himself Naruto took a runner's position before sprinting down the hall way towards the window at the end. Just a few feet short of the window Naruto jumped with all his strength, pumping the muscles in his legs as hard as he could. He dived clear through the window and flew out into the street before he rotated on his centre of gravity mid-air and impacted a window on the building opposite feet first. He smashed through the window pane, sending shards of glass exploding into the room as he came to a rolling stop.

"I thought you said this kid wasn't a shinobi?" Cat said

"He can't possibly be." Eagle replied.

Snake chuckled. "Well he's fucking impressing me then."

Naruto stood and turned to see the three ANBU in the building he had just vacated, watching him with their blank masks. They seemed content to let him tire out as they chased him with no particular urgency. The way they stood and watched him screamed of a lackadaisical attitude, most probably because he wasn't a shinobi himself. Naruto scoffed. He would teach them not to underestimate him.


	9. Chapter 9

Naruto quickly realised he had a problem. He couldn't kill any of the ANBU trying to capture him. Not that he was physically incapable but killing any of them would get a massive bounty posted on his head. He would have to incapacitate them somehow before making his escape. This complicated things immensely, not the mention the swarms of snakes just waiting for him in every shadow.

A huge black mamba reared its head and struck at Naruto when he reached the ground floor of the building he had just leapt into. Quickly ducking past the strike he counter attacked with his spear, catching the snake in the roof of its mouth, causing it to disappear in a puff of smoke. Again, he had yet to be directly challenged by any of the shinobi. Clearly the snakes would continue to harass him until he was unable to put up any meaningful resistance.

Naruto considered how quickly the ANBU had recovered from his flash bomb and realised that those masks must be more than decorative. They most likely had some kind of filtering effect for disorientating visuals. He couldn't be sure how effective his smoke bombs would be either in that case. He dashed out of the building into a side street as he realised he would have to neutralise those masks before anything else. Hitting an ANBU in the face though would prove to be a challenge.

Naruto continued to make his way to the market district, fending off serpents as he went. The shinobi remained a constant presence not far behind him, matching his pace and waiting for him to start faltering. It seemed they wanted him in one piece and relatively unharmed. When he reached a small crossroads he reached into his bandolier and pulled out a trio of smoke bombs. The small black objects fit snugly between his fingers as he pushed in the activation pins. He then swiped his arm across in front of him spreading the projectiles over a wide area, one each down the three directions ahead of him. They sparked and popped as thick white smoke came gushing out, smothering the area in a cloaking shroud. He was curious if the shinobi were able to see him in the smoke with their masks. Perhaps they could see heat like some types of lizards.

Hidden amongst the clouds of smoke Naruto ducked down to hide inside the doorway of one of the buildings on his left. He waited for the smoke to clear as he controlled his breathing. As he stood there, hoping to see the ANBU rush on ahead of him, Naruto was struck by a thought that brought a wide grin to his face.

The smoke had cleared and indeed the ANBU had continued to push on past the intersection. Naruto sprinted out of his hiding spot noticing for the first time just how desolate the place had become. There was an upturned cart to the side of the road, fruit spilling out of it like organs from a gutted animal, and a sickly sweet smell permeated the air as the fruit from the cart had been trodden into the ground. Other than that the stores around Naruto had been completed stripped down with only broken shelves and windows remaining.

To this backdrop Naruto quickly moved towards the centre of the intersection, where he bent down and started scooping at the earth with one of his throwing knives. After creating a small hole he positioned a small round object inside, pin facing up, before covering it over with the dirt he had just excavated. He repeated this two more times before moving pieces of fruit to cover the recently disturbed earth. This had taken Naruto about three minutes and not a soul had been around to watch him do it.

It was then that the ANBU made their return, taking positions up on the rooftops and looking down at Naruto with their blank masks. Their team relied on their chakra sensor in order to track, and in lieu of that had relied on the snakes to relay back Naruto's position. The problem was this information moved much more slowly as the snakes had to communicate between themselves and their summoner. This had given Naruto enough time to prepare.

"Hey snake-bitch," He called out "How about you come down here and fight me yourself instead of sending your fucking worms to do it?"

The purple haired ANBU tensed slightly but otherwise didn't react as the other two shinobi gave her a warning look.

"In fact I think I got a snake right here that you might want to get acquainted with, after all only a chronic virgin could be as grumpy as you, or were you touched as a little girl by your parents or maybe your teacher? It would explain the snake fetish a lot!" he continued.

That got her. With a growl she jumped to the ground, falling into a kneeled position to absorb the impact.

Naruto took the opportunity to speak up again "Yeah just that like! You get the idea."

Cognizant and disappointed that she wasn't permitted to kill the boy, the purple haired ANBU clasped her regulation tanto in hand with the sheath still covering the blade. She would beat the insolent brat into unconsciousness and then some by the time she was done with him. Cat and Eagle just looked on from the rooftop, aware that even one ANBU operative was overkill for a quarry like this.

Impatient and angered Snake charged at Naruto with her sword raised above her head. Naruto meanwhile discarded his spear on the ground and drew his wakizashi. He would need to get in close for what he had in mind and neither did he want to leave his spear strapped to his back like usual. He would need to squeeze every bit of speed from his body and didn't need any unnecessary encumbrances.

Snake stepped into the midline with a basic overhead strike. Not the most finessed manoeuvre but it allowed for the maximum amount of force and body momentum to be thrown into the blow. As such it was also very fast. Naruto was barely able to raise his blade in time to parry and had the sheath been removed or the move more subtle he would have failed all-together. At that moment a small wave of panic began to rise in Naruto's mind that he had to ruthlessly squash before it interfered with his thinking. Snake followed up her first attack by pushing Naruto back and off balance with her blade before swinging the elbow of her sword arm in and shoulder checking Naruto in the chest. He was thrown onto his back but quickly recovered by rolling into the fall and regaining his feet.

Snake didn't let up and immediately wound up for another attack, stepping in close to reduce the effectiveness of Naruto's longer weapon. The blunted edge of her tanto came barrelling in to Naruto's ribs, giving him a nasty bruise on his left side. She had underestimated his tolerance to pain though and was taken off guard by Naruto's fist flying into her face and smacking across her mask. Naruto immediately retreated, cradling his ribs, as Snake shook off the disorientation from the hit.

The two circled each other for a moment trying to maintain their ideal distance and at the same time deny the same to their opponent. Ostensibly Snake had a longer reach. Naruto, however, had the longer weapon which meant the ideal distance to strike for the two combatants largely overlapped. This resulted in an intense shuffle for position as the two carefully measured their steps letting Naruto to move towards one of the traps he had set earlier.

Once he was standing approximately where it was Naruto invited attack by taking a half step too far forward. This left him within the perfect striking distance for Snake but it also meant he was standing directly on top of his trap. Not letting the opportunity to go to waste Snake struck forward, blade outstretched in her hand for a thrust towards Naruto's head as she let out a scream of frustration. It was a supremely arrogant move. The head was the smallest target on a human body and the easiest to manoeuvre out of harm's way. Hitting it successfully signalled the attackers complete dominance over the other in combat. Naruto saw the opening and tipped his head to the right. The tanto flew straight over his left shoulder as Naruto moved his body forward and caught Snake's arm at the shoulder. At the same time his right foot came crashing down over a section of earth, squashing another ripe pomegranate all over the bottom of his footwear.

Eagle and Cat who had been watching the fight with some interest were confused at Naruto's actions. They were curious why Naruto had pushed his right foot too far forward seemingly just to step on a piece of discarded fruit. They were soon answered when a plume of smoke exploded from beneath the boy's foot, cutting off their vision of the fight.

Inside the cloud of gas Snake felt something impact the front of her mask as the smell of overripe fruit invaded her nostrils. Her head snapped back as a sudden force flicked her in the forehead with a loud bang. She quickly leapt backwards, hoping to clear the cloud of smoke, only to find that even that far back she couldn't see anything through her mask. With a growl she tore it off her face to see that the white porcelain surface had been blasted a bright red over the eyes, leaving some kind of hardened powdery residue.

Naruto actually had several coloured smoke bombs for signalling purposes and until this fight had found no occasion or reason to use them. They differed from the normal type in that they contained a pigment that usually coloured the smoke as the chemicals inside the bomb combusted. In this case he had cracked the whole thing against Snake's mask, pin first, causing it to leak and then burn on its surface.

Snake threw her mask to the ground to reveal hard chocolate coloured eyes and a square jaw with a surprisingly dainty chin. She spat on the ground and said

"I don't know what the fuck you're playing at kid but you're going to have to do better. Get serious or this is going to be really boring"

Naruto forced a cheeky laugh and replied "Damn you really are hot, and here I thought only your body was rocking. Thank god you're not a butter face."

Snake grit her teeth at his blatant disregard for anything she said and moved to put him down for good. She wouldn't hold back any further or try to gauge his skills. Channelling chakra to her feet she dashed forward at inhuman speeds to crack Naruto over the head with her sheathed tanto. Suddenly Naruto dived to the ground slapping his hand against the earth. Unaware of exactly how Naruto had set off that smoke bomb earlier Snake made the mistake of looking down at Naruto and his hand in confusion. Cat and Eagle already saw where this was going and averted their eyes. A brilliant flash of light discharged from the ground blinding Snake as Naruto quickly took the opportunity to get up and charge. He leapt into the air and brought the butt of his sword down on Snake's head, knocking her out cold.

Eagle and Cat sighed in exasperation when they turned back to see Naruto retrieving his spear from where he had left it and Snake on the ground unconscious. She would be completely insufferable for the entire way back to Konoha because of this. Deciding that they should just stop playing soft with the kid and go all out to capture him they dropped down from the rooftops and approached Naruto.

"All right kid. Pretty impressive knocking snake out but the games up. You've used all your regular smoke bombs and I'm pretty sure you only have one flash bomb left. So give it up and lets go to Konoha." Said Cat

Naruto tapped the butt of his spear on the ground and said

"Two."

"What?"

The two ANBU swore as there was another flare of light blinded them temporarily. It only lasted a couple seconds since they both still had their masks but when their vision cleared Naruto had already escaped their line of sight. This was a problem. Sure Naruto was very low on his little parlour tricks but he couldn't be tracked via chakra and their snake summoner was currently taking a dirt nap. Naruto had just vastly increased his chances of escape. Dog would not be pleased.

Naruto ran off chuckling through the various alleyways, heading towards the western gate. Most likely they would be waiting for him there, expecting him to take the least circuitous route. If they did have someone at the west gate it would mean they would be split up meaning he still had a better chance of making it out. Relief flooded through his system after his brief battle with Snake. It had been a close thing and Naruto's heart was still thundering against his chest. He could feel the blood pounding in his ears even now. After taking a quick inventory of his remaining equipment Naruto ran out across one of the main streets before ducking back into an alley on the opposite side. There was still the odd group of looters and rioters out on the streets along with roaming groups of soldiers and Naruto had no wish to run into any of them.

As he drew closer and closer to the western gate Naruto's thoughts wandered towards the other ANBU, Dog. He hadn't seen him at all since the chase had begun and it was starting to worry him. Clearly that huge water dragon had taken a lot out of the captain but it seemed unlikely for him to be out of commission for so long. With that thought Naruto turned a corner, only to run face first into a fist rocketing towards his head. It smashed him straight in the jaw and knocked him into unconsciousness.

Dog gave his hand an experimental flex and shook out the pain before turning to his two subordinates holding Snake up between them.

"That is how you do it." He said. "Now tie him up grab him. We've wasted far too much time."

Eagle and Cat gave their captain a snappy salute before Eagle passed his side of Snake over before he went and secured Naruto and hefted him up onto his shoulder. The three shinobi then started moving towards the northern gate, using shun-shin liberally to quickly cross the urban landscape.

When Naruto came to he realised he was being carried by one of the ANBU, Cat from the colour of his hair. Other than that all he could see was the dirt road passing beneath their feet and the trees which were ubiquitous in the central areas of Fire country. Obviously they were approaching Konoha and there was no way he had been unconscious for the several days it must have taken to get this far. Noting the heaviness of his tongue and his general malaise Naruto concluded that he must have been drugged for most of the trip. Clearly none of the ANBU wanted a repeat of what had happened in Kaneyama. Soon a familiar purple headed shinobi made her way into Naruto's field of vision carrying all of his equipment.

"Some nice stuff you got here kid. Spear, sword, smoke bombs, flash bombs, throwing knives, steel wire, darts, first aid kit, dry rations, gunpowder bombs, entrenching tool, poisons, and god knows what else. It's like you were planning to go to war. I can almost believe you didn't get lucky when you knocked me out, though there was never a chance of you getting away. Captain here is the best in the business" She said

Naruto gave his best handsome-devil smile. "We make our own luck Snake-san."

Snake just snorted before moving ahead again out of sight. It was several hours later when Naruto was dropped and able to move on his own. The drug had some kind of lasting effect that kept him feeling weak and unable to move as well as he should. He reconsidered the drug aspect and thought it was more likely some kind of venom considering who was on the ANBU team. It wasn't much longer after that the gates of Konoha came into view

It seemed exactly the same as Naruto remembered it from all those years ago, those huge green gates that towered above you, ready to swallow you up and the same brick boundary running across its length. The group made a brief stop with the gate guards before continuing on to the city proper. Naruto flinched when he first stepped inside, feeling like he was again that small child that had spent his entire life there. He expected the glares and the cold looks as soon as he stepped inside but was pleasantly surprised to find that people had almost entirely forgotten about him. He did get some odd looks and he still felt that deep-seated discomfort but for the most part he walked through the town unmolested. Stripped of all his weapons and gear and with his hands tied behind his back Naruto felt extremely vulnerable in his current state, and wondered exactly why he had been forced to come here.

A sense of dread overcame him as they approached the headquarters of Konoha, colloquially known as the Hokage tower. It was a red and orange building that dwarfed the rest of the city, with the symbol of Fire proudly emblazoned upon a disk that sat on its side. Its very design was evocative of grandeur and power. Naruto briefly wondered if the Hokage was still the same old man that used to visit him in the orphanage.


End file.
